Composite motion pictures



June 18, 1935.

INVENTOR. FRED NJHL-KMn/v.

ATTORNEY.

Patented June 18,- 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMPOSITE MOTION PICTURES Fred W. Jackman, Beverly Hills, Calif., assignor to Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application January 3, 1934, Serial No. 705,655

2 Claims. (Cl. 88-16) The invention relates to composite motion picthe camera 3, these motors being supplied from a tures wherein a background scene is projected common power line I. The motors 5 and 6 may onto a translucent screen, in front of which a be single phase synchronous motors or they may foreground scene or action is arranged, the cambe three-phase moto s a S w Wi h the addi- 5 era and projector operating in synchronism. tion of an electrical interlock as now in common 5 In my application, Serial No. 539,818, filed May use in Sound r rd 25, 1931, for Composite motion pictures, I have The foreground action 4 may be i m n d b described and claimed an arrangement for maka p mps so placed at the light thereing closeups and long shots with the tran:,- from does not fall on the front of the screen i,

10 lucent screen type of process shot. As disclosed as will be readily understood. l0 and claimed in my prior application, in making R e r g to Fig. 2, I have illustrated the use closeups and long shots, the field of view of f a am r f r ph r phin fr m different th amera, and of th projector h ld b distances, a foreground object 3 in front of a changed by corresponding amounts to take into background object 9. T efiong Shot and closeaccount the fact that the background scene rep- D positions of the Camera e represented by 15 resents an object or objects substantially removed the tWO lens positions In l 1 respectively; from the locus of the translucent screen. the assumed Case, the foreglelmd j c 8 s 24 An object of the present invention is to set feet in front Of the background j t A180, forth more precisely the factors which need to the am is 25 t in front 01? the foreground be taken into account in making closeups and Object 13, in the long 51101? Position and 10 feet 20 long shots with the translucent screen type of in front of the foreground object 8 for the closeprocess shot. up position. The camera therefore takes a long It will be understood that i changing from a shot where it is feet from the foreground obcloseup to a long shot, either the camera as l t d 49 t from h background object;

25 a hom may be bodily moved t t different posialso, a closeup where it is 10 feet from the fore- 25 tions of distance from the screen, or the camera ground object and 34 feet from the back d may remain in fixed position and the lenses Object. thereof changed to accomplish the same purpose, For t e long e foreground and b e namely, to change the field of view of'the camera. ground objects appear on the negative in the rela- While it is possible to move the projector, to tive heights indicated for the objects llv and 9 re- 30 change the field of view thereof, preferably this spectively. For the closeup the relative heights is accomplished in all cases by changing the of the two objects are now increased as representlenses therein, as the projector is usually mounted at I2 and N resp yed in a fire-proof booth and is very difficult to The apparent ma nifi ati n n m v m a move in comparison tothe camera. long shot to a closeup of the object in the 35 For further details of the invention, reference foreground, is in proportion to the relative dismay bemade to the drawing, wherein: tances of the camera which is 2.5 to 1.

Fig. l is a schematic view of a translucent The relative magnification of the object in the screen arrangement for making closeups and background is computed in the same way and 40 long shots. equals 1.43 to l. 40

Fig. '2 is a diagram illustrating the apparent The above illustrates that if a translucent magnification of foreground background obscreen were employed in the plane of or adjacent jects with the camera lens at diiferent distances the foreground object, moving a camera from a therefrom. long shot to a closeup would increase the ap- 4 Referring in detail to the drawing, a backparent magnification of the projected picture by ground scene is projected onto a translucent 2.5 to 1, whereas in reality the background object screen i by a motion picture projector 2. The should only have been increased in the ratio of projector 2 is driven in a suitable manner in syn- 1.43 to 1. Under the conditions just stated therechronism with the motion picture camera 3 which fore, the magnification of the picture projected 59 is arranged to photograph action represented by on the translucent screen, according to my inthe inner star t in front of thescreen i. As an vention, is reduced by an amount depending on example of a synchronous coupling between the the apparent distance of the nearest important projector and camera 3, I have illustrated a object in the background scene in order to off-set three-phase motor 5 which drives the projector 2 the otherwise undue magnification of the projectand a similar three-phase motor 5 which drives ed picture due to moving from a long shot to ployed when the camera in Fig. 1 is moved into correspondingly different positions, whereby the magnification of the projected background scene is changed to-compensate for the change of magnification of the action, with the benefits described in connection with Fig. 2.

Having thus described the invention. what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is,

I claim:

1. The method of producing composite pictures which comprises projecting onto a translucent screen a background scene representing a real background scene outside of the locus of said screen, photographing action before said screen, changing the magnification of the image of said action in said camera, changing the magnification of the projected background scene a different amount to compensate for said change of magnification of the image of said action in said camera, said different amount of change of magnification being of such an extent that the background on the camera film is of the same size as if the real background had been photographed directly, and photographing the action with the magnification of said action and of said projected background scene thus changed.

2. The method of producing composite pictures which comprises projecting onto a translucent screen a background scene representing a real background scene outside of the locus of said screen, photographing action before said screen, changing the magnification of the image of said action in said camera, changing the magnification of the projected background scene by a lesser amount to compensate for the fact that the background scene projected on said screen represents a real background scene outside of the locus of said screen, said lesser amount of change of magnification being of such an extent that the background on the camera film is of the same size as if the real background had been photographed directly, and photographing the action with the magnification of said projected background scene thus changed, whereby closeups and long shots of the action are obtained before substantially the same background that would be photographed if said camera had photographed said action before the real background scene instead of photographing a projected picture of the background scene at the locus of said screen.

FRED W. JACKMAN. 

